Dhananjaya de Silva was a lone figure of resistance for Sri Lanka, as he justified his own decision to bat first with a battling 74 from 84 balls on the first day of the Old Trafford Test. Sadly for the captain, however, the rest of his top-order could not summon the same levels of gumption. An initial collapse of three wickets for no runs in ten balls gave way to a tea-time total of xx for 8, as de Silva’s own dismissal to Shoaib Bashir five minutes before the break continued a satisfying first taste of international captaincy for his counterpart, Ollie Pope.

De Silva himself arrived at a sickly scoreline of 40 for 4 in the 16th over, moments after Kusal Mendis had been blasted from the crease by a brute of a delivery from Mark Wood. But, after making it to lunch on 28 not out, he grew into his role as wickets continued to slide away in the afternoon, bringing up a 56-ball fifty as he found some doughty allies lower down the order, not least the debutant Milan Rathnayake,  with whom he added 63 for the eighth wicket.

It was a gutsy knock from de Silva, who farmed the strike well in between a diet of eight well-struck boundaries, each of them showcasing his sharp footwork and delicate balance. But having survived a stumping off Bashir on 65, when Jamie Smith failed to gather cleanly with the bails at his mercy, he fell to the same bowler nine runs and ten overs later, when Dan Lawrence at leg slip scooped up a sharp low deflection off a big-turning offbreak.

Nevertheless, de Silva alone had showed what should have been possible on a hard and dry surface that offered good carry to the quicks, and which Pope expected would stay true for the first half of the contest at least.

Choosing to bat first may have been the brave option for Sri Lanka, but Pope himself admitted he would have bowled first anyway, and even before the end of the first half-hour, de Silva’s call was being made to look distinctly foolish. After inching along to 6 for 0 in a misleadingly sedate first 5.3 overs, the innings was soon in tatters at 6 for 3 after seven.

The first blow was landed by Gus Atkinson, whose initial focus had been on a full length and a tight line, to limit Dimuth Karunaratne to a solitary scoring stroke in his first 17 deliveries. Atkinson then bent his back on a sharp lifter from just back of a length, and Smith reached high behind the stumps to claw down a thin top-edge, as Karunaratne fluffed his first shot in anger, an expansive swish across the line.

Four balls later, Nishan Madushka’s early discipline also deserted him as Chris Woakes served up a juicy outswinger that he could only scuff straight to Joe Root at first slip, who clung on in the heel of his palms. And with the final ball of the same over, Woakes had his second courtesy of a ghastly misjudgement from Angelo Mathews. The hero of the 2014 series win was gone for a five-ball duck, burning a review in the process as he offered no stroke to an inducer that was shown to be hitting the top of middle.

Kusal and Chandimal showed some gumption in a limited counterattack, with the first five boundaries of the innings all coming in the space of 12 balls, four of them to Kusal off Matthew Potts, whose wide angle into the stumps offered the chance to free the hands through the off-side.

But, after limping to drinks on 37 for 3, there was another challenge waiting for the second hour. Wood tore into his opening spell with typical gusto, and struck with his seventh ball – a gruesomely quick lifter to Kusal that crashed into his left thumb and looped to Harry Brook at second slip. Much like the snorter that broke Kevin Sinclair’s wrist in the West Indies series, Kusal left the crease wringing his hand, and looking in urgent need of an ice-pack at the very least.

Out came de Silva to shore up the listing innings, but with lunch approaching, his measured stand of 32 in seven overs with Chandimal was undone in cruel and unusual fashion. Shoaib Bashir entered the attack for an exploratory pre-lunch spell, and struck in his second over with an unplayable daisycutter, reminiscent of Nasser Hussain’s viral moment against Carl Hooper in Trinidad in 1998.

Chandimal was the luckless victim, nailed on the shin in line with off stump as he played back to a length delivery that scuttled more wickedly than you could even have expected on a fifth-day wicket, let alone before lunch on day one. He gambled on the review, hoping against hope that he’d been struck outside the line, but Bashir’s sheepish appeal and celebration could have told him everything he needed to know.

Sri Lanka’s steady seepage of wickets continued into the afternoon. Kamindu Mendis, who came into the match with a towering Test average of 107.00 after five previous innings, looked settled for a time, particularly when he rocked back on a rare wide delivery from Woakes to lash his first boundary through the covers. One ball later, however, Woakes changed his approach to round the wicket and delivered the sucker punch: a length ball, angling into the stumps, that the newly pumped-up batter couldn’t resist flirting through to the keeper.

Atkinson then bagged his second in similarly guileless fashion. Prabath Jayasuriya looped a limp uppercut to gully as England switched to a short-ball ploy, only to be reprieved by the third umpire who called no-ball for three bouncers in the over. Not to be discouraged, Atkinson simply fired the extra delivery through on a fuller length, and Jayasuriya snicked off with his feet stuck in the crease.

Rathnayake, however, would not prove quite so gullible in his shot selection. Despite channelling a bashful schoolboy while being presented with his Test cap by Kumar Sangakkara before the start of play, he was more than man enough to withstand England’s eager attempts to dislodge him, picking off four fours in his 67-ball 32 not out. More of the same will be needed after tea if Sri Lanka are to nudge their total past 200.